Once Upon a Time in Konoha
by Live Lovely
Summary: What if Itachi never had to murder his clan? Would it be as happily ever after as we imagined?
1. Chapter 1

It was a warm day in Konoha but Itachi wasn't aware of it. He was currently sprawled out across his bed with a pillow over his head to block out the sunlight that was streaming in through his window. It wasn't often that he got to have a lazy lay in day, but boy was he ever taking advantage of it. It was past noon and the long haired man still hadn't moved an inch. To him it was pure bliss. He never seemed to get enough sleep and this was all he wanted to do. He'd even thrown a blanket over his alarm clock so he could avoid seeing the time should he wake up. If he'd known it was past noon he might be bothered enough to get up, but not today.

His plans wouldn't go fully as he wanted though. A frustrated and bored Sasuke paced the hall of their house and kept glancing at this brother's door. He'd been up since nine and had been bored for hours. There was only so much day time television a teenager could take! He was getting up the nerve to do something as he paced like this. He knew that there could be a few possible outcomes and one of them could very well be his early death. He was going to die anyway, of boredom, if Itachi didn't get up soon! Finally after getting the courage he tip toed over to the door of his brother's room and poked his head inside after getting it open. Just as he thought, Itachi was still asleep, basking in the sun like some sort of cat. A grin crept over Sasuke's face upon seeing the sleeping form of his older brother and he pushed the door open silently, and further. The younger Uchiha took a few steps back, and then suddenly ran for it, leaping into the air and then diving onto Itachi."Niisan, Niisan! Wake up!"

Itachi had been blissfully unaware of what was going on around him, that pillow that was over his head muffling sounds but it did nothing to stop the sudden weight of his younger brother landing on his stomach. He jerked awake with a grunt and threw the pillow off of him, tired glaring eyes now staring down at his brother who was grinning at him and now cuddling up to his side as if he'd done nothing wrong. Itachi groaned seeing that face and threw his arm over his eyes, desperately wanting to go back to sleep but knowing that it wasn't going to happen any time soon. "We need to get you video games or something to entertain you." He mumbled and he heard the soft laugh of his brother.

"Why would I want video games when I have my amazing niisan to keep me company?" He asked, adding the amazing part in to butter Itachi up into not being upset that he'd been woken up. Of course Itachi saw right through that, but it didn't stop him from enjoying the the compliment anyway.

"Well your amazing niisan is going back to sleep, so I'm afraid he wont be the best company." Hearing that made Sasuke almost pout, a trait that had followed him from childhood and into his teen years, but he held it back.

"You're such a liar, niisan. You aren't going back to sleep...are you?" He'd sounded so sure at first but seeing that Itachi wasn't moving and seeing that arm still over his eyes he wasn't so sure. Sasuke reached up and latched his hands around his brother slender arm and tugged meeting resistance; Itachi keeping his arm stiff so his brother couldn't pull it away.

The smaller Uchiha grunted and tugged, his tongue sticking out a little ways as he did his best to remove that arm from his brother's eyes. He was already more entertained than he had been watching TV, his grinning face more than showed that. "You're..not..going..back to ..sleep..niisan!" He said, grunting and struggling with that arm the whole time.

Itachi had hoped that his brother might get bored enough tugging on his arm to leave him alone, but that didn't seem the case so he finally let his younger brother win, and he felt his arm being tugged down and then pinned under Sasuke's weight. "Ha! Now you can't cover your eyes. You have to get up now, Itachi-nii." Hearing that almost made Itachi smile, but he just calmly placed his second arm over his eyes and sighed with contentment.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the second offending appendage like his glare alone was going to scare if off. "That's not fair, niisan! Come on. Get up! You've been sleeping all day!" Sasuke then flopped over the older male dramatically, one arm and one leg sprawled across him and he then huffed out a breath against the man's arm he was still laying on.

The elder Uchiha brother grunted feeling the added weight of his brother on him again and yawned. He did have his reasons to want to keep sleeping. After all he hadn't gotten in bed until around eight AM because of his duties. He didn't have anything to do today so he thought he'd finally get to lie in. Perhaps he still had a chance. "You should take a nap Sasuke." He said, again yawning and then rolling to his side to face his brother, letting him keep his leg over him for the time being. If he could get Sasuke to sleep it would solve all of their problems. Itachi would get to sleep and Sasuke would no longer be bored.

"Nani! A nap? How old do you think I am, niisan? Seven?" Sasuke sounded offended at the very idea. He was a teenager after all. Teenagers didn't need naps. They had energy to spare! He could be up all day and all night and still keep going sometimes. He never slept much at night anyway, always being a busy body of sorts. He'd often be out training, and he knew that was one thing he could do, but he'd really had his heart set on spending time with his brother today. Of course it would just happen to be the day that he'd want to do nothing but sleep. Now that pout crept onto the younger Uchiha's face, but he snuggled in closer to his brother anyway and tucked his head under his chin.

Spiky raven locks tickled Itachi's face and he shifted his head around to try and avoid them to no avail. With a small sigh he opened his eyes and looked down at Sasuke, seeing the pout on his lips. "Well now that you mention it, you do look to be about seven with that pout on your lips." His slender and long finger reached out and poked the pout on his brother's mouth, and Sasuke then nipped at it grumpily.

"I do not look seven, niisan." He said, sounding just as grumpy as he was acting now. He shut his eyes and turned his head away from the older male, but Itachi couldn't help but notice that Sasuke wasn't going anywhere. He really wasn't going to give up was he?

"Otouto..."He stared but only heard a huff from the younger. His hand came up into his brother's hair and petted through the spikes, feeling the silky smoothness of it through his fingers. "I'm going to make you a deal. Don't say anything until I'm finished!" He said before the younger cloud interrupt him like he was so prone to doing. "Good. Now listen. I will spend the rest of the day, and night with you if...you let me sleep for another two hours. The rest of the day and night...and I'll take you out to eat where ever you like. Deal?"

Sasuke was of course silent through what his brother had said and his eyes had already lit up at the idea of getting to spend so much time with his brother before he sweetened the deal with dinner. He smirked that sly looking smirk of his and sighed, looking down so his brother couldn't see his face. He wanted to make it seem like he was taking a dive here with this, even though he was getting more than he wanted. "Okkkaayyy, I guess. Only two though! I'm setting your alarm!" With that he hopped out of his brother's bed and yanked the blanket off the alarm, throwing it backwards where it hit Itachi squarely in the face. He heard a muffled few words of annoyance from his brother and then turned his head back to grin at him. "Sorry Itachi-nii." He said and then went about setting the alarm.

Itachi grumbled a little bit about the alarm idea and even more so after getting hit with the blanket, but he just used it to cover up and get more comfortable. Right now he was just happy to know that he'd be getting more sleep. He sighed and settled down into his pillows and tossed his blanket over him as his brother set his alarm. He wasn't ready for what happened next, his brother once again jumping onto his bed, but at least not on him this time. He bounced a little and opened his eyes to the teen, seeing him turning over and scooting back so he was snuggled up to the man, now under the blankets as well. Itachi's eyebrow rose at this and he then watched as Sasuke reached back and took his arm, pulling it over his side. "I thought that you didn't want to take a nap..." He started only to be interrupted by his brother.

"Shh! I'm trying to sleep, niisan." He said, and Itachi could hear the grin in his voice. The older Uchiha rolled his eyes but he no longer questioned his brother. He settled down behind him and then scooted close to him before he shut his eyes once more and held him close. It wasn't ever strange to the two of them to sleep together, they were just close and always had been. Sasuke had been sleeping with him since he was a young boy. Rather than ever run into their parents room when he'd been scared, he'd always come to Itachi. It was rather comfortable for the older Uchiha and warm and the same for Sasuke. Though he hadn't really been tired, he found himself drifting off to sleep soon enough, Itachi following right after.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Woo! Back for chapter two. This one is a little longer, and things are _-slowly-_ starting to heat up for our favorite brothers. -Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.- No there isn't a lemon in this chapter, but I foresee that happening soon enough. Of course all comments are appreciated, any flames will be laughed at. =D In fact I welcome them! Flame to your hearts content and make my story more popular in the process! I kid, of course, but really, your flames don't bother me.

_Live well, live happy..._

_With love,_

_Live Lovely_

Disclaimer: I do not own or make money of this work or these characters.

Two hours came and went far too quickly for Itachi's liking. The sound of a loud beeping woke him up and he groaned and pulled his pillow over his face, attempting to hide from the horrible sound as best he could. He wasn't shielded from it long when he suddenly felt that pillow ripped from his grasp and watched it fly across the room and hit his alarm, knocking it over and shutting it off. The older Uchiha blinked down at his little brother who snuggled back down into place as if he as keen on sleeping. Though Itachi had groaned about the alarm, he really was awake now, and it was time for his revenge.

A slender but long hand clasped his shoulder and then shook it hard. "Wake up Sasuke!" He called to him, a small grin on his face as he saw his brother reach back to smack at his hand weakly. He couldn't help but laugh at that, but rather than lay in bed any longer he stood up and took his blankets, and Sasuke who was determined to cling to them, with him. The younger Uchiha thudded to the floor with a soft whine and then tried to ball up under the covers as best he could. Perhaps teenagers, or rather, Sasuke, didn't have the energy to spare that they thought they did.

"You're so mean, nissan." He grumbled into the blankets, but knew that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep now. Just to make sure, his brother came over and pulled them away from him, earning him a kick to the shin.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, looking down into the grumpy face of his little brother now. He tisked at him, threw the covers back on the bed, and then stooped down and picked the smaller of the two of them up and set him on his feet with ease. Sasuke was still so much smaller than him, being about five inches shorter and still weighing less. A fact that Itachi reminded him of far too often for the younger's liking. The spiky haired boy rubbed an eye now but he didn't really seem all that mad about being woken up anymore. He was just not a "morning" person.

"You owe me desert now too." He told him, reaching back and rubbing his head. This was of course, over acting, because his head honestly didn't hurt at all. He just liked to milk Itachi for everything he could.

"Fine, fine." The older replied, waving it off as he stripped out of his bed clothes. Though Sasuke had seen Itachi naked and mostly undressed before, this time he couldn't stop himself, and he let his eyes wander along the tone but slender form of his brother. For some time now Sasuke had started to notice just how attractive his brother was. Not in a jealous, he's better looking than me way, but more of just a down right attraction to him. He felt his face heat up a little bit as his gaze lingered and then he turned his head away before he got caught. Itachi was none the wiser of this and just went about getting dressed.

"Have you decided where you'd like to eat?" He asked, slipping on a simple pair of black pants, and then a snug black shirt to follow. The younger was glad for a subject to go off of so he could ignore the prickling hot sensation that was gathering within him. He smiled and looked at his brother with an happy nod. "Well?" Itachi asked him and Sasuke merely kept smiling and then bounded out of his brother's room to go get ready as well. He really did like to do anything and everything to get under his brother's skin, sometimes that is.

The place Sasuke had in mind was one of his favorites and Itachi really wasn't surprised as they neared it, walking together and just mildly chatting. It was a small quiet cafe that Itachi had stumbled across in the back corners of the village, and it seemed whenever it was just he and Sasuke, the young man picked this place. The bell jingled as they two pushed through the door and Sasuke greeted the workers there with a happy wave and a small smile, then grabbed his brother by the wrist and tugged him up a set of stairs. There was a balcony of sorts, and on that balcony several small tables. Sasuke rushed over to the one he deemed 'their table' and sat down with a plop to his seat.

"Thank you for taking me niisan." He said and kicked his feet up on his brother. Itachi almost pushed them off but he just let it slide with a roll of his eyes.

"You're welcome, you little monster." He replied, but there was a fondness to the obviously well used nickname. The brothers didn't have to wait long before the were greeted with menus and water, but before the waiter could even step away the two Uchiha's were already handing them back and ordering. Each of them ordered bread and a soup, tomato and cabbage respectively, of course.

They enjoyed their meal in peace, just chatting softly in the peaceful setting and when it came time for that desert that Sasuke had wanted it turned out to be only tea, a fact that Itachi still found odd about his brother to this day."You know that they have dango and other sweets right, Sasuke?" He seemed to be trying to get him to go for something like that again. In many ways Itachi looked out for his brother like that of a parent, and he was always trying to get him to eat more.

The younger Uchiha wrinkled his nose up at the very thoughts of the sweets and took another sip of his tea. "You know I don't like things like that niisan. I don't have a sweet tooth like you." He looked down at his brother's plate where he had a small slice of cake and then back up to his face with a slight smile. "Are you still trying to gain weight?" He asked him and took a look at his brother closely, as if trying to see if he had in fact gained some. As he shifted in his chair his feet sandals started to brush up just against Itachi's crotch, and though he didn't notice at the moment, he was starting to get aroused.

"I gave up trying to gain weight a couple years ago, you know that, ototuo." Though the slender male had given up, it wasn't like he was super thin either. He'd filled out as he'd gotten older. His body was toned, but it was obvious that he was built for speed with his long powerful legs, and slender build. It was then that he noticed a slight pressure in his pants and he glanced down to see what was causing this. To busy himself he took another bite of cake, but scooted back away from his brother, letting his feet fall to the floor. This could only get awkward if attention was drawn towards it.

"If you gave up, then don't you think it's okay for me to give up? Maybe I'll be like you, and my body will finally even out when it stops growing." When he felt his brother scoot away and felt his feet drop to the floor, a small frown pulled on his lips and he looked up at Itachi with that look, like he didn't understand why he'd done that."You could have at least warned me." He mumbled and took another sip of his tea. It was very clear that I didn't like the fact that they weren't touching anymore.

It seemed natural for them to be touching. Like second nature. When they walked, it was always close, shoulders brushing together. When they relaxed, it was often leaning on, or over in Sasuke's case, actually on his brother. Of course part of this had to do with Sasuke's under lying crush on his brother. He'd had his eyes set on the older Uchiha for some time now, but it seemed that no matter what he really tried, he couldn't seem to get more than 'brotherly' attention from Itachi. It was frustrating to no end to the teenager.

Hearing Sasuke's mumbled words he gave him a soft smile in apology but didn't give him a reason why. He knew he couldn't really lie to him anyway. What could he say to that anyway if it came up? He could just imagine._ "Sorry Sasuke, but having your feet in my lap was turning me on." _Yeah, that would go over well. He almost snorted at the very thought, and then finished his cake. As he ate he did so slowly, thinking of things to make his arousal go down. It worked pretty fast, but in the back of his mind he wondered why things like this kept happening. It seemed every little accidental (or so Itachi thought) touch to his crotch sent him into at least a semi hard state. He was glad he wore baggy pants for the most part, because things of this nature kept happening more and more frequently. It seemed that he just didn't want to come to terms to the actual reason, that he was in fact attracted to Sasuke. It was just something he didn't even want to consider, because he feared it would drive a wedge between them, and that was the last thing Itachi ever wanted.

"Fine, fine." He said, this being his common way to let subjects drop. "I will stop trying to get you to eat sweets and gain weight, but at this rate I'm always going to be able to carry you around on my back." He gave him a slightly teasing smile, his eyes glinting with it as well. This was just another way he teased his brother about being so small. He could still give him piggy back rides, and sometimes he still did just to prove he could.

The teen's eyes narrowed at his brother and he set his tea down, only having just a little left anyway. "Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't make me small, niisan! You're taller than tousan too. You're just a freak that way." He huffed a little bit, and Itachi only kept that smile on his face. He was pleased to see his teasing had the desired effect.

"I'll bet I can carry _you_ now, niisan." He said to his older brother and it actually made Itachi laugh. This of course made Sasuke glare at him even harder but he was still determined to prove his smug brother wrong...for once. "You just watch. I'll show you. I'll-I'll carry you all the way home, that's what I'll do!"

Itachi laughed a little bit more and reached into his pocket to pull his wallet out, laying out the money for their meal. "Alright, if you're ready to prove me wrong, then lets be off. I'm done here if you are."

"Fine." Sasuke said, now slipping into a more serious mode. He would prove his brother wrong, and then he would rub it in his face. For once he would be right! With those thoughts in mind he stood up gracefully and walked down the stairs and out the door, waiting for his brother to join him.

It wasn't often that Itachi saw this side of his brother. He'd only seen it when they were training and when he'd seen him around his friends. He was more reserved and it was always strange to him, but he could see why. He was doing his best to be taken seriously in this situation, no matter how ludicrous it was. It was hard for Itachi to take Sasuke seriously though, he would always be his little brother. After setting out the money and making sure he had the right tip he followed after his brother who he could see was standing straight and ready for him. "You're sure you want to try this?" The taller male asked, worried that the height difference would make this awkward.

"Yes, now get on and don't make any excuses as to why you can't."

Itachi let out a sigh and shook his head, knowing that his brother's mind wasn't going to be changed. He rested his hands on his brother's shoulders and then Sasuke crouched down a little bit to make it easier for Itachi to get on. He did so by laying more of his upper half over his brother's upper back, looping his arms around his neck so they were stuck out aways and then Sasuke grabbed his legs and hiked him up, seemingly with no trouble. He then took off walking, not one step faltering.

Itachi didn't say a word as they headed home and he seemed to just be looking around at where they were going with mild interest. Sasuke figured he was taking a dive in his pride and that trademark smirk of his was on his face all the way home. He stepped up to the door and then stopped, and waited for Itachi to get off. The younger turned around when he did so and gave him a very smug 'I told you so' type of look, only to be met with a smirk of Itachi's, which led to the utter confusion of the younger Uchiha, now written all over his face.

"Thanks for the ride, otouto." He said, ruffled his hair to mess it up and then strode inside and headed towards his room.

Sasuke stood there at their front door and merely blinked. He'd been played, just like Itachi always managed to do to him. He couldn't believe it. He'd just give his older brother a ride all the way home and he got nothing in return for it! He gave an outraged sound and then lighter footsteps were pounding against the wood floor, chasing after his older bother. "NIISAN!"

Itachi just laughed.


End file.
